Soon, this would be over, and I would spend a few weeks in bed making sure Breanna was not angry with me. A few hundred orgasms ought to do the trick.
Standing in the center, I did a quick assessment of my surroundings. I’d been here before, seated in Astra’s assigned area, but never on the floor, the center of attention. The domed ceiling was about twenty meters high, the center, where I stood, was an oval thirty meters long with a raised stage at one end. The back half of the stage was full of the simulation equipment. On the front half, five throne looking chairs were spaced evenly so the accusers could face the accused as well as address the witnesses. Evenly spaced around the oval, six seating sections held twenty seats each. The sections were divided by thick partitions designed to keep the members of the five Legions, and anyguestssitting in the sixth area, separated from one another. Harder to kill each other with a nearly impenetrable wall between each group of attendees.
In the exact center of the hard, shiny, white floor was a single black chair with a silver headpiece resting innocently in the middle of the seat. I’d seen as many as ten black chairs in the center. Today, I was the only accused.
Drakdak Trach and his bodyguards should have been sitting on the thrones, gloating. Waiting to execute me. Where was he?
I turned to one of my guards. “Where is Drakdak? I demand to be released at once if he is not here.” Had he changed his mind? Stayed home and hidden himself inside his fortress like the fucking coward I knew him to be?
Gods I hoped not. Shade and I had spent weeks planning this. Our plans were nearly ruined when I’d been captured by the Hive. As I suspected, and Shade confirmed during our journey, it was he who gave the Coalition Fleet the anonymous information that led their ReCon teams to the exact location of the Hive’s Integration ship. Shade saved my life and sent Breanna to me. I owed him a debt I could never repay. Although, the exorbitant amount Drakdak offered to any bounty hunter who could bring me in would go a long way.
No. I would never tell him the truth that I would never repay him for the gift of bringing my mate to me. She was everything. I would not come so close to victory only to fail now.
“He’s here, Astra scum. And he has a surprise for you.”
Excellent. He was here. He would die. I cared about nothing else this fucker might say.
“Sit down and stop asking questions.” The same guard lifted the headpiece from the black chair, clearing it so I could sit. He tried to shove me down using my shoulder for leverage. Took two of them to ‘force’ me to sit. Didn’t want it to look like I was happy to be here, so I had to resist. The last thing I wanted was Drakdak to realize we wereallhere because I’d plannedhisdeath, not the other way around.
The guard shoved the headpiece into place over the top of my skull and made sure the connectors were placed over my forehead and temples. The device would access my memories and broadcast them to every person present. There would be no argument, no stating of evidence or conjecture. With the headpiece in place, my accuser would request the date and time of the memory to be displayed. The intelligence system that operated the Sim would dig through my mind, extract the memory, and replay it as a simulation inside the minds of everyone in attendance—everyone who wanted to bear witness, or enjoy the show.
There were those here today who, without doubt, looked forward to experiencing my kill for themselves. Sick fucks. I killed, but took life out of necessity, never pleasure.
Everyone present would feel like they experienced the moment. The sounds. Smells. Sensations. They wouldn’t know what I was thinking at the time, but as the Legions discovered long ago, times of extreme violence rarely involved clear thoughts. Nor were my thoughts relevant. Only the actions. Outcomes. Results.
I knew what they would see when they played my memory. Me as I charged Drakdak Trach. Him, begging for his life. The sights and sounds of tearing flesh, the smell of Scion blood, the way chunks of his muscles gave way, tore in groups, the bones in his neck snapping and popping as I took his head.
I regretted nothing. Still, I was relieved Breanna would not be here, would not be wearing one of the Simulation devices, would not be forced to experience the brutality of that moment. My sweet, innocent female did not need my darkness corrupting her any more than I already had. She believed I was a worthy male, honorable and good.
She was wrong, but I would attempt to be what she believed me to be.
Right after I killed the fucker walking onto the stage.
Lord Trach, as he’d begun calling himself, strode into view behind two guards, waving his hand and nodding at those in attendance with all the pomp and arrogance of a true king. Long black robes engraved with silver and gold covered him from shoulder to floor. Surplus material dragged the ground behind him in a display of excess, the reason for which I could not fathom.
I hid my satisfaction behind what I hoped was a stony gaze. His ridiculous choice of attire would simply make it easier to catch and kill him.
Unlike his dead brother, who had replaced the top half of his head with Hive tech, Drakdak had one band of silver imbedded in his flesh, the metal circling his head like a crown.
This fucker really did think of himself as royalty. Two guards in front, two behind, and the four surrounding me. Eight to one, before I could get my hands on him.
Not bad odds.
There had been twenty when I walked off the ship. He should have brought more men.
Careful to keep my expression neutral, I nonetheless noticed those in attendance, the other Legionnaires, looked unimpressed by his display. I doubted Drakdak noticed their bored gazes or open contempt. Those who lived a fantasy in their mind rarely dared to look outside it.
I took stock of the rest of my people, Astra Legion. My mate was not among them, as I’d requested. I did not want her to worry or suffer needlessly. Barek, too, was missing. I assumed Astra had assigned him to protect my mate, assumed herfriends,Ruk and Sebastion, were also with her. I would need to thank them. After.
Soon, I would end this, end Drakdak’s reign of terror, as I had his brother’s. Shade had played his part to perfection, even with the added complication of Breanna and the need for the antidote, of the Prillon warrior, Sebastion, and the Atlans escorting us to Rogue 5.
We played our parts. We followed the plan. No one doubted his intentions or my capture. No one but Prince Ruk had been trusted with the full truth, not even my mate.
I’d tried to keep Breanna out of this. But when Breanna came to me and called memate,I lost control.I claimed her, fucked her, sank my fangs deep and told her she was mine. Admitted that I lied to her, that she was, indeed, my mate. Perhaps I should have waited until Drakdak was dead to tell her the truth, until there was zero risk I might not return to her.
Hard as I’d tried the last few hours, I could not convince myself to regret claiming her. The way she melted in my arms, surrendered, gave herself to me? I would change nothing. She was mine and now she knew the truth. She would not return to the Coalition. She would never go back to her old life. She would never be alone or unprotected. I would not give her up. Could not go back to the bleak existence that was my life before her.
“Mighty Legions, welcome.” Drakdak lifted his arms and spoke slowly, making sure the comm system picked up and clearly broadcast every word to all in attendance. “I am Lord Drakdak Trach, and I have come to collect the criminal, Mikos of Astra Legion, and carry out his execution for the brutal murder of my brother, Tarduk Trach.”
